The Harvest Moon

Looking up at the moon, there was no indication of the pain that would change the life of a girl forever. As she sat at the top of a hill looking out at the city, thinking why did I leave my home? This girl is only 12 years old, thinking she knows everything, at the same time not knowing anything.
A story is told that very night, as the red moon rises over the city. The legend was watching a moon of that color raise, someone you are very close to, or you, yourself will come close to death. Neither one knew the irony of that legend, for by the end of that one might not live to see the next day.
The girl has no where to go, she certainly could not return home, for the trouble she was in was far to much to bare to the parents who loved her. Why was she such a disappointment to her family? Why couldn't she be a "normal" 12 year old. Why had drugs started to invade her life at such an early age, she was unable to understand the consequences of her actions.
Later that evening as these very thoughts invaded her mind, she thought to herself, why not end it all. A bottle of vodka sounded very nice, why not wash it down with a bottle of aspirin? The last thing she remembers is a song "do you have the time to listen to me whine, about nothing and everything all at once", her head is hit hard against a wall. Then all goes black.
The light is shining, it appears at the end of a tunnel, no, wait there are voices, unable to open her eyes, there is a taste in her mouth that she can not understand. There are people standing over her, one of them is crying, she recognizes her father. The girl was unsure of where she was or what was happening, she surely must be dreaming.
As she comes to, it appears she is in a hospital, she can now make out the voices of the people around her. Still she is unsure of why she is here. A doctor comes in and asks "do you know that you almost died? You were not breathing when you came in? We had to pump your stomach" At this point the girl becomes angry, angry at the fact that she did not succeed. Still there was more.... The girl was asked if she had sex, the answer was no. The doctor then told her this was not the case. At this point the girl was unsure of how to re-act. Had she been violated, and not even known? Yes she was sore and as she sobered, the reality of her broken body had set in. She was no longer the same person.
At this tender age of 12 her innocence was taken. Not only to the fault of the man who violated her in every way, but also by the attempted suicide that almost took this girls life. Nothing was ever the same, the girl grew up and never dealt with her guilt. She always wondered, did she say yes, because she was drinking did I deserved to be raped? The answer to this, the girl would not figure out for a long time. The nightmares continued throughout her life, she could never quite get over the pain she caused her family, and the damage she had done to herself. The man who did this was never prosecuted, which added to her fear.
The Harvest moon that she watched rise above the city that night, almost claimed her life. Had she not watched the moon, would her flirtation with death come to play as it did? When she hears the song or sees a harvest moon, she will always remember the night that almost took her precious life from her.